✓ dirty dancing｜park jimin

strike

strike: noun
a term used in bowling to indicate that all of the pins have been knocked down with the first ball of the frame

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I was laying on my stomach, vegging out as I was watching re-runs of Gossip Girl, waiting for Tiana to come over, when I received a phone call from her.

'Hey, Mary, Thomas and I are going bowling with the rest of the class and the newbies, so I can't make it today.'

'Can I join you?' I asked.

'What?' Tiana was shocked.

It's not that surprising I want to go out.

'You want to come bowling with us?' she asked in disbelief.

'Yeah, I should probably get out more... Get to know the new guys.' I said, sounding unsure.

'Wow, okay, meet us outside in ten.'

Rarely do I party or go out, I just prefer to put my time to better use. Usually, that's done spend that time rehearsing or being alone with myself. The other dancers call me an overachiever because I overwork myself, but all I want is a contract to dance professionally with the school's company. I'd do anything, even if that meant sacrificing my social life for it.
But I guess something just pushed me to go out this time.

I changed my clothes and grabbed my bag before heading out. I spotted Jungkook, smiling at him before hugging all my other friends.

Wait, Jimin's here too?

Not knowing what to say or do, I ignored him as we walked to the arena. He didn't seem to notice my presence either.

'Okay, let's split into two teams- Rose, Mary, J and Jungkook on one team; Bree, Thomas, Jimin and I on the other.' Tiana instructed, smiling brightly, 'Each player from the losing team has to perform a dare given by the winning team.'

Everyone played like their lives depended on it, all of them being pretty competitive people, while I was slightly behind... Let's just say it was my first time bowling.

I ended up scoring a couple of zeros because of my perfect gutter balls until Jungkook came over to help my pathetic state.
He held the ball from around my body, teaching me some technique about how I should roll the ball.

As he was talking, I felt someone watching us closely...

Weird.

While the others were trying to decipher who was going to win, I went to the bathroom. On my way back, I heard footsteps behind me. An eerie presence that followed.

'So you're ignoring me now?'

I turned to look at the dour,  hickory-haired boy behind me. He was gradually coming closer, but I didn't move away, smelling his strangely comforting scent again, hypnotized by his beautiful, dark eyes.

Why am I not moving away from him?

Before I could give Jimin an answer, Hoseok called me to play.

'Duty calls.' I said, immediately walking away.

It was my turn to bowl, I was the last person to play. Currently, the scores were almost equal, we just needed a few more points to win.
I could physically feel everyone's eyes on me as the pressure built.

Don't screw up.

I looked to my left to see Jimin laughing with Bree. Bree was from our class too, but she wasn't too close to us. Her pin-straight hair and uppity attitude had me thinking she never liked me. And for some reason, my adrenaline spiked, and I rolled the ball.

In anticipation, I closed my eyes awaiting the other team's cheers, but instead, I heard numerous pins hit each other.

'STRIKE!' Hoseok screamed, running up to hug me.

After a little celebratory dance around the alleys, we sat down to eat some garden-variety pizza and root beer.

'Okay, since we've won we get to give each of you dares. First up, Bree! I want you to go and dance for...' Jungkook scoured the arena before pointing at a group of men, 'Them.'

Clutching our stomachs in laughter, we watched the forty-year-old men react to Bree doing splits around them, in her shiny halter top and shorts.

After which I dared Thomas to kiss Hoseok anywhere he'd like. The two boys froze before and long after Thomas planted one on Hoseok's jaw.
The game continued until Jimin was dared to use a cheesy pickup line on any one of us.

My heart raced as he stood up, his eyes cast down on me.

'Is your name strike? Because you are a perfect ten.'

___________________

On our way back to the dorms I waved everyone goodbye. Jimin pulled me back before I left and hugged me.

'This isn't over. You better not ignore me next time.', he whispered in my ear before letting me go.

I watched him as he walked away, completely befuddled.

That night, I went to sleep quite late, as I stayed up thinking about a brown haired boy...